Software:Star Legions

From HandWiki
Short description: 1992 video game
Star Legions
Developer(s)Supernova Creations
Publisher(s)Mindcraft
Designer(s)Trevor Sorensen
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release1992
Genre(s)Strategy
Mode(s)Single-player

Trevor Sorensen's Star Legions is a 1992 video game published by Mindcraft.

Gameplay

Star Legions was based on the planetary assault module of Star Fleet II. This allowed for more detail control of ground troops landing on the planet.

The player has two different kind of troops: shock-troops and regular troops. The player's task is to first put their shock-troopers down on the planet and destroy its shields. Then they can land their regular troopers and invade the planet. The player could also bombard the planet first and then try to invade it.


Troops gain names and experience; after a successful fight, they receive a legion name, such as "Silver Snakes", and improve by recovering faster their suffered losses, because of the remaining veteran fighters.

Finally, the player gets different worlds to invade from primitive to very good developed planets who are more difficult to subdue.

Development and release

This game, published by Mindcraft, another affiliated label of Electronic Arts, was released in late 1992.

The game was designed and written by Trevor Sorensen, Mark Baldwin, and Brett Keeton with artwork by Richard Launius.

Although the initial release was buggy, two patches were soon available which fixed all the known bugs.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGWStarStarHalf star[1]
DragonStarStarStar[2]
Electronic Games90%[3]
Power Play76%[4]

Computer Gaming World criticized Star Legions for overly simple wargaming mechanics such as lacking air support, restoring legions' health to full between worlds, the lack of impact of the terrain on gameplay, and many serious bugs. The magazine said that Star Legions made injustice to science-fiction and wargame genres.[5] A February 1994 survey of space war games gave it a grade of C, stating that the game "suffered from a high tedium factor".[6] The game (as "Space Legions") was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #193 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.[2] A May 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game two-plus stars out of five, stating that it had "an unusual number of bugs and a numbing sameness to the scenarios".[1]

Jim Trunzo reviewed Star Legions in White Wolf #36 (1993), rating it a 4 out of 5 and stated that "Star Legions also boasts many small extras that add up to a large amount of enjoyment. Short speech clips, good sound effects, and some tongue-in-cheek humor make Star Legions worth owning."[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust a Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World: 42–58. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=118. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (May 1993). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (193): 57–63. 
  3. ↑ Dille, Ed (March 1993). "Star Legions". p. 74. https://archive.org/details/Electronic-Games-1993-03/page/n73/mode/2up. Retrieved December 11, 2024. 
  4. ↑ "Star Legions" (in de). February 1993. https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=279. Retrieved December 11, 2024. 
  5. ↑ Cirulis, Martin E. (April 1993). "A Review of Mindcraft's Star Legions". Computer Gaming World: 76. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=105. Retrieved 6 July 2014. 
  6. ↑ Cirulis, Martin E. (February 1994). "The Year The Stars Fell". Computer Gaming World: 94–104. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130512031435/http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_115.pdf. Retrieved December 11, 2024. 
  7. ↑ Trunzo, Jim (1993). "The Silicon Dungeon". White Wolf Magazine (36): 29. https://imgur.com/a/sNm33TN. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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